Utility Plant Pact Studied

PEMBROKE PINES — The city`s Utility Committee recommended Thursday that officials from Pembroke Pines and Miramar meet with a consultant to decide how to build a joint sewage treatment plant.

The two cities have been trying to reach an agreement for two years, but differences on how the plant should be operated have prevented a settlement.

In December, Miramar officials proposed that the two cities hire a consultant, Linton Lovett, to recommend ways the two cities could reach an joint operating agreement.

Pembroke Pines needs to build a sewage treatment plant for the area west of Flamingo Road to serve burgeoning developments such as the 7,500-unit Century Village condominium complex.

Miramar officials want an authority with powers divided evenly between the two cities to operate the plant. Pembroke Pines officials want to control the operation because the plant would be in Pembroke Pines north of Pembroke Road, a mile west of Flamingo Road.